Version: This one.
Scrivener is everything I wanted (and thought I would get) out of Mac Notepad, but better. It lets you organize stuff, has a strong potential for distraction reduction, and looks cool.
Cost: $53; free for a 30-day trial.
Learning curve: Medium-high. Maybe it’s because I have the trial version, but I haven’t been able to figure out all the modes they show on the website. Or how to export as a full document instead of in little pieces.
Distraction-factor: Medium-low. There’s less complicated formatting than Word (which seems to be a common theme), and all your pdfs/docs/photos for a project are in one place, which is also nice, but there’s still more to it than you vs. blank screen.
Cool writing extras: Having different file types saved in the same document, being able to take “snap shots” of text before you edit it so you can fix things if you screw up, and the name.
Biggest pro: Organization.
Biggest con: Price tag, and figuring out how to export.
Verdict: Good for people who would otherwise have 20 windows open, like to see fewer words on a page, and who don’t mind paying for it.
See the rest of the posts in the writing software series here.